Anything Is Possible In Poetry
Many poets have put their emotions on paper; whether it be about the love of their life or their favourite slot machine at the casino, anything is possible. You’ll surely agree that there is no lack of variety where poetry is concerned.
Different Types of Poems
Poetry is a form of literature that’s been around for almost four thousand years. Poets use specific words because of their sound and meaning to create the meter, which is a tempo. Sometimes, two or more lines end in terms that sound alike called a rhyme scheme.
10 of the most popular types of poems are as follows:
- Rhymed Poem - As mentioned above, this is when the lines rhyme.
- Blank Verse - Blank verses don’t rhyme and are almost always iambic pentameter - written with a precise meter.
- Epic - This poem is a narrative work and usually quite lengthy. It often speaks of the adventures of characters.
- Free Verse - These poems don’t have any consistent form, metrical pattern, or rhyme scheme.
- Narrative Poem - These poems tell stories, much like epic poetry.
- Haiku - Japanese in origin, this is a three-line poetic form. The first and last line has five syllables and the middle line has seven syllables.
- Pastoral Poetry - This type of poetry is about landscape, rural life, or the natural world. You can see these in poetry from Ancient Greece, Ancient Rome, and modern-day work.
- Sonnet - There are different types of sonnets, but it’s typically a 14 line poem written about love. These poems have internal rhymes, dependent on which type of verse it is.
- Ballad - This narrative verse form can be either poetic or musical. The rhymed quatrains usually follow a pattern.
- Soliloquy - In this monologue type of literature, the character is usually expressing their inner thoughts by talking to themselves. These aren’t poems by definition, although, like with Shakespeare’s work, they can be.
These are just naming a few, but there’s an abundance that you can explore. You don’t have to be a literary genius to write great poetry, especially seeing as it doesn’t always follow the language rules. You can write about love, like Pablo Neruda’s “Love Sonnet XI”, or happiness like Edward Dyer’s ‘My Mind to Me a Kingdom Is’. You could even write about your favourite slot machine, like Colin Mitchell Williams did when he wrote Slot Machine Romance.
Many writers avoid tackling poetry mainly because people believe that it’s complicated. If that sounds like you, here are some reasons to take a swing at it:
It broadens your understanding of the language. Instead of just using whatever word comes naturally, it forces you to search for the perfect phrase. Because of the rhythm, style, and rhyme scheme, each story has to be chosen carefully.
It teaches you to break the rules. As mentioned earlier, sometimes it is necessary to break the rules to write a great poem. Grammar is often used to create rhythm, not solely to end and pause sentences.
Perhaps the most important would be that it improves your writing in general. It allows you to express your ideas better.
Why wait? Choose a theme and start jotting down some ideas.